This invention relates to an electronic program guide system which provides a user with schedule information for broadcast or cablecast programs available for viewing on a television receiver. More particularly, it relates to an improved electronic program guide channel that provides the viewer with a more versatile, readable, and aesthetically pleasing display of program listings as well as promotional information.
Electronic program guides for television systems are known in the art, particularly with regard to cable television systems. For example, one common implementation of a electronic program guide channel utilizes a dedicated cable television channel for continuously broadcasting program schedule information. The advantage of such a system is that it is relatively easy to deploy because it is centrally implemented at the cable head-end. No additional electronics or software are required at the viewer location because full control of the display is maintained at the cable headend. The display information is then broadcast continuously on a dedicated cable channel. The television viewer simply tunes the cable converter box or television tuner to the channel on which the schedule information is modulated and views the program listings. Typically, these program guides utilize a scrolling display of television listings. Some systems employ a partial screen of listings with additional information in the remainder of the screen such as advertisements for movies on pay channels, pay-per-view (PPV) event schedules, time and weather information, and other commercial information. These systems generally incorporate a grid or matrix to display the program schedule information, with a different row for each channel and columns representing different time slots.
Collectively, the prior electronic program guide systems are frustrating for the viewer and do not incorporate features that render them especially useful. They also lack features that would make them aesthetically pleasing to watch. These deficiencies contribute to their limited use by viewers and general preference for printed television schedules. For example, only a few rows (channels) are typically displayed at one time and scrolled either continuously or periodically, so that, in a cable system with a large number of channels, the time for completing one cycle through the listings for all the channels may be several minutes, and the viewer may be required to wait some time to view the schedule for a desired channel. In addition, many viewers may find a continuously scrolling program guide difficult to read because their eyes must follow the listings as they move up the screen. Scrolling listings are also used in guides that display program listings in a split screen format together with promotional and other information. The split screen format is necessitated because of the need to include commercial advertising in the screen as well as the schedule information. However, it may be frustrating for viewers to be forced to continuously view this information while they are waiting for the schedule information for a desired channel to appear on the display.
Another possible reason why electronic program guides are under-utilized is they simply are boring to watch. While a full screen of listings allows for the display of more schedule information at one time and thus a shorter cycle time through the entire program schedule, viewers could be bored by the monotony of continuously viewing a full screen of listings. As indicated above, however, split screen program guides that simultaneously display additional information of possible interest to the viewer have the disadvantage of much longer cycle times.
An additional problem with prior program guides is that program titles must be truncated to fit into the cells of the grid. The width of the grid cells vary with the duration of the program. Thus, a 30 minute program is allotted only a small amount of space for the program title and description. Therefore, titles and/or descriptions for half and even full hour programs must often be truncated in order to fit into the allotted space. Some systems simply cut off the description of a program without abbreviating it in any way so the user is unable to determine the subject matter of the program. For example, a recent television program display included the following text in a grid cell: "Baseball: Yankees v." Truncation of program listings in this manner greatly reduces the utility of the program guide and is frustrating for viewers. Although some systems partially alleviate this problem by providing two lines of text in each grid cell, this solution is not ideal because program descriptions may still be truncated.
A similar problem arises with electronic program guides as the time slots change. Typically, 90 minutes of schedule information is displayed at one time and at every half-hour, the 90 minute window shifts ahead by 30 minutes. In the case where a 30 minute shift causes a 30 minute size grid cell to display, e.g., a two-hour movie, it is likely that the full title of the movie will not fit into the cell. Truncation of the title is thus required in this situation as well. In this case, while two lines of text may be desirable to fit the title in the 30 minute cell, this may not be the case for the 60 or 90 minute cells because there may be sufficient space in these cells to fit the title on a single line.
There thus exists a need for substantial improvements in existing electronic television program guide channels that will make the guides more useful for the viewer and more pleasant to watch, while still meeting the needs of the cable operator in terms of including commercial information in addition to program schedules. Electronic program guide channels represent a potentially useful tool for the viewer as well as a source of revenue for cable operators, but it is believed that current program guides are being under-utilized because of the aforementioned drawbacks with these systems.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved technique of displaying program information in order to make program schedule grids more readable.
There also exists a need for an improved technique of displaying program information and associated commercial information in order to reduce the cycle time for displaying the complete schedule of program information.
There also exists a need for providing a more aesthetically pleasing display environment for the program schedule information.
There also exists a need for providing more flexible display formats for the program schedule information that can be readily altered and interchanged by the cable operator.
There is also a particular need for an improved display of text in the cells comprising the program schedule grid.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a electronic program guide which can provide improved display of program listings and video promotions in a manner that does not detract from the utility of the program guide.
For example, there is a particular need for a flexible program schedule system that allows the cable operator to broadcast full screen displays of program schedule information as well as partial screens of program information together with promotional and other commercial information.
These as well as other problems and drawbacks of existing electronic program guides are solved by applicants' improved electronic program guide channel system and method.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a electronic television program schedule system wherein pages and partial pages of program schedule information fade in and out on the viewer's display.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system which can interchangeably display a full screen of program listings or a partial screen of program listings.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system which can switch between a display of program listings and display of a received video or text message.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system which can alter the portion of the page display occupied by program listings depending upon the content of a received message.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system which can switch between a full page listing display and partial page listing together with a message.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system which can switch between a full page listing display and partial page listing together with a message, wherein the portion of the page used for program listings is determined by the content of the message.
It is another object of the invention to provide a electronic television program guide with variable background views.
It is another object of the invention to provide a electronic television program guide with variable background views that change according to time of day.
It is another object of the invention to provide a electronic television program guide with background views that are determined by current events or events upcoming in the near future.
It is another object of the invention to provide a electronic television program guide with background views that are determined by current holidays or holidays upcoming in the near future.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an electronic television program guide wherein varying grid cell sizes are provided with associated, varying length program titles.
It is a further object of the invention to combine an electronic television program guide channel with an interactive program guide system so as to provide user control over the display of listings information in an electronic program guide channel environment.
These and other objects of the invention are achieved by an electronic program schedule system which includes a digital receiver and demodulator for receiving and demodulating digital data transmitted, e.g., via satellite, comprising television program schedule information and promotional material, and a digital playback system for storing the data, retrieving the data, and forming pages of television program listings and promotional material for transmission to viewers via a cable television system. The playback system includes a data processor that stores in a disk storage memory apparatus television program schedule information for a plurality of television programs to appear on the plurality of television channels. The data processor also stores in disk storage memory apparatus promotional material for display in association with the schedule information. A multimedia generator receives control commands from the data processor as well as program schedule information and promotional information from the memory and displays a portion of the program schedule information in grid format. The data processor controls the multimedia generator with video control commands, issued in accordance with software resident in the data processor to display program schedule information either in full page format or in partial page format together with promotional information. In addition, the control commands cause the multimedia generator to fade program listings in and out, alter the background upon which the program listings are overlaid, and display varying textual descriptions of television programs so as to fit within a designated grid cell. The pages are modulated by a cable television channel modulator and transmitted on a dedicated cable channel to viewers. A television receiver is used to display the pages by tuning the cable converter box or television tuner to the proper channel.
In an alternate embodiment, the disclosed electronic program guide channel may be combined with an interactive program guide, implemented in the cable converter box.